December 9, 2014

We had breakfast in bed this morning – scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, an assortment of sweet rolls, orange and tomato juice, and coffee.  And then it was off for dock side and a trip to the Hato Caves and a tour of old downtown Willemstad, the capital of Curacao.

Our guide for the excursion was a black man named John Paul.  He said he was the black brother of the late Pope John Paul II, but offered no credentials.  However, he was an entertaining guide, knowledgeable, and told jokes as bad as mine.

At one point he asked if we had noticed that there were no children on the streets of Willemstad or the areas through which we were driving.  He said it is mandatory that young people go to school from the ages of 5 to 20.  If children are found outside of school, police take them back to school twice.  If they are found outside the third time, police take them back to school and then go issue a fine and citation to the parents.  He said, “We know that if our children do not grow up to have an education, they will not be able to contribute to society.”  I vote we bring John Paul to the U.S. of A. to reorganize our school system.  Also the children learn four languages.  They start off with their native Papiamento (that may not be speeled correctly) which is a combination of the languages from of all of the nations that Curacao has had contact with in the past.  Then they learn Dutch, English, and Spanish.  That is required of all school children, and the languages are introduced at defined stages in their educational careers.

Hato Caves is the only cave I have visited where we had to climb up to get into, and never went down on our journey.  The entrance is 49 steps, approximately 60 meters,  above sea level.  Perhaps used by the Arawaks, the original inhabitants of the island, or by runaway slaves, this limestone cave is full of formations.  And some original inhabitants still live in the cave – bats this time.  The cave has an opening at the top of the hillside that the bats use when flying out to control the local mosquito population.  Sadly photography is permitted in only two of the five chambers we could visit, and no postcards or pictures were available for sale.

Stepping outside and starting our journey back down the 49 nine steps (who wrote the novel “The 39 Steps”?) I had the feeling of deja vu all over again.  When we booked this excursion, Bonnie and I agreed we had done a tour of historic downtown, but had never been to the cave.  Looking out from the entrance to the Caribbean just a few hundred yards away, we decide that maybe we have visited there.  Bonnie will check her journals when we return to 233, or you, dear reader, can go back through these blogs to see if there is a reference to an earlier visit by your intrepid cruisers.

After wandering around the historic city for a while, and finally finding the Postal Museum for which we had searched in vain earlier, we checked out a couple of souvenirs and returned to the ship.  I only had a $10 bill when I went into the Museum and the curator graciously allowed me free entry because he did not have $8 change U.S.  Among the exhibits was a letter brought to Curacao from the Netherlands in 1934 on the first KLM airplane flight to the island.  It cost 1.12 Dutch guilders.  Is that a lot?

Lunch in the Windjammer was followed by an official nap in Stateroom 7135.  Now I am off to publish this, then pre-dinner trivia at 5:15, a production show by the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers at 7:15 and dinner at 8:30.  My talk on “Space: The Final Frontier” will be presented tomorrow at 2 p.m.

TTFN!